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by G.A. Heath
Fri Oct 27, 2017 5:05 pm
Forum: Reloading Forum
Topic: Decisions decisions...
Replies: 23
Views: 9429

Re: Decisions decisions...

I'll give you my one stay-away from recommendation and I'll tell you what I have used successfully.
First, stay away from the Lee pro-1000. Don't waste your money, time, and effort on that junk.

The first press I used was a Lee Classic Turret, good press and it is still in use by a friend. I got away from it because it was a jack of all trades and master of none. As a starter press you can do far worse, much much worse. I have no trouble recommending it to someone else.

The second press I got was an RCBS Rock Chucker. It is still on my bench and still loads ammo I want to be a "hand loader" with. That means it is where I load most of my rifle, .45 Colt, and .44 mag loads. These are precision loads in my case and are done with a very time consuming process.

The third press I got was a Hornady LnL AP. This is where I go when I want to simply manufacture ammo relatively quickly. I typically load three to five hundred rounds in a session with complete inspection and clean up between 100 round lots. I limit my lots to 100 rounds because that is what the primer tube handles. I have learned that if I inspect and clean up when I stop for primers I tend to get have fewer issues across the board.

As far as dies go I use more RCBS dies than any other brand, followed by Lee. When I want really accurate ammo I go with Redding dies, but for the most part my die sets tend to be a mixed bag with dies from two or more manufacturers. I tend to hunt dies at gun shows as I can usually find real good deals there and when it comes to RCBS dies I have no fear of buying those dies used as RCBS will repair or replace their dies that are damaged.

Regardless of the press, die, or other tool, I tend to spend more time on maintenance than actually making ammo. While this is not required it is simply my nature, just as I spend more time on maintenance of my firearms than I actually do shooting them.

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